We often talk hear about the lives and living conditions of Indonesian migrant workers, many of them going to countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and states in the Middle East to find employment. In its 2024 Empowering Migrant Workers report, the United Nations Development Project estimated that 9 million Indonesians are working abroad. With such a large cohort overseas, the rights and welfare of this labour force is a focus of the Indonesia government. And for good reason too, as we’ve all heard concerning stories of poor treatment, and particularly gendered violence, that can occur.

However, what, or who, we hear much less about are the approximately 400,000 foreigners working in Indonesia. Has the Indonesian government’s concern for Indonesian citizens in foreign lands translated at all to an awareness of the need to protect foreign workers within its own borders? Who comprises this diverse group and what are their experiences of labour rights and labour protections while working in Indonesia?

To helps answer some of these questions, and more, I’m joined by Dr Wayne Palmer who Is a senior research and teaching fellow at the University of Bielefeld. Wayne is a Southeast Asianist and a migration scholar with extensive experience providing paralegal assistance to migrant workers claiming labour and employment rights. He uses social-legal approaches to examine legal and policy frameworks that govern labour and migration.